East Hampton Voters OK School Renovation Project

Local voters approved a $52 million plan to renovate the aging East Hampton High School at a special referendum Tuesday.

High school building committee chairwoman Sharon Smith said she was pleased with the results of the vote, which was 1,536 to 1,258 in favor of the project.

Overall voter turnout was estimated at over 30 percent of the town's eligible voters, town officials said Tuesday night.

The plan calls for demolishing two 1970s-era wings of the school considered "outdated", and adding a new science and technology block. It will also renovate the library and media center, and add a new gymnasium.

State reimbursements are expected to cover approximately half the cost of the project.

The project had strong support from the board of education and the town council, as well as political action committees and parties.  However, this week former state Republican Party chairman George Gallo filed a complaint with the state Elections Enforcement Commission over Interim Superintendent Mark Winsler's use of the school's emergency alert call system to remind parents of the referendum.

Gallo said he took issue with the message because it was targeted at a specific group:  parents of schoolchildren who he believed were more likely to vote in favor of the project.

Gallo contends that such a call, though impartial in content, should have been sent to every eligible voter instead of being "targeted." The call announced the date, time and place of the referendum.

Winsler said that he received a legal opinion from the EEC before sending the message, and that use of the emergency alert system is legal provided that the message does not take a position.